Rant of the Week: FOMO

The issue I find with being a student is how relatively short our time is here. We have three years (or more if you’re lucky/a medic) to get it all out of our system; the drinks, the parties, the lazy days and the selfish spending. And my goodness, does the time go quick.

Living with people who aren’t doing my course has possibly been one of the worst and best decisions. The good thing being that you can forget all about that shitty exam or that presentation you really don’t want to think about as soon as you walk through the door. The bad thing, however, is the serious cases of FOMO (that is Fear Of Missing Out for the old folks who don’t know) that spring on you when you have three deadlines to meet within a week and they have nothing but the next Digi night to think about. The amount of times that I have been persuaded into parties and nights out and then furiously, and drunkenly, tap away at my laptop at 4am for some goddamned assignment is just ridiculous.

“FOMO springs on you when you have three deadlines to meet and your housemates have nothing but the next Digi night to think about”

Let’s not forget, this is not limited to the nights out. I’m talking the new pair of jeans you just bought because you don’t know when the next time will be when you have basically free money in the form of a student loan. I’m talking the fancy steak dinners you convince yourself you need because your FOMO-ing off your sibling’s dinner back at home. Unfortunately kids, it only gets worse with age. By the time you’re in third year YES of course you have dissertations which are maybe KIND OF a big deal. But… the time is ticking away to you becoming an official adult with actual official responsibilities. Next year, you will never be able to roll over and snooze that alarm for that seminar that might be important but they won’t chase you up for. Next year, you won’t have the best nightlife in England on your doorstep wiht all your friends within 5 minutes walk. Also, next year… you potentially be unemployed because you failed your degree for not working hard enough…

“the time is ticking away to you becoming an official adult with official responsibilites”

You may be thinking ‘but of course the answer to all your problems here is better time management!’ You may be right. However find me a student with decent time management skills and I’ll find you a Cosmic night that doesn’t involve illegal substances. We have all of adulthood to do that. Part of being a student is the messiness, the unorganisation, panic and then broken promises to try harder the next time. And then, you’ve guessed it, complain about it all over again. You better prepare yourselves, FOMO is making a big comeback for the end of term, let the late-night coursework commence!